Govt's 10 fertiliser plants closed, 7 under losses: Nihal Chand

Govt has planned financial restructuring of three sick units namely MFL, BVFCL and FACT

As many as ten fertiliser plants out of 23 operated by state-run companies are closed, while 7 others are suffering losses, Parliament was informed today.

There are seven public sector undertakings (PSUs) in the fertiliser sector having total of 23 manufacturing plants, and out of which only six plants are in profit, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Nihal Chand said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The PSUs which are operating in the fertiliser sector are Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF), National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL), Madras Fertilizers Ltd (MFL), Fertilizers And Chemicals Travancore (FACT), Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizers Corporation Ltd (BVFCL), Fertilizers Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL) and Hindustan Fertilizers Corporation Ltd (HFCL).

"The government has planned financial restructuring of three sick units namely MFL, BVFCL and FACT to sustain their operations. The government has also planned to revive five closed units of FCIL. Proposal/action plan on revival of HFCL units to be taken up once revival of FCIL units is on track," the minister said.

According to the reply, all five plants of FCIL and three plants of HFCL are closed.

The one plant each of BVFCL and FACT are also closed, whereas the remaining two plants of BVFCL are in profit, while other three plants of FACT are witnessing losses.

The RCF and MFL are only PSUs, whose all, two and one plant respectively are in profit.

Another PSU NFL's four plants are in losses while single plant is in profit.